A CASH-STRAPPED Worcestershire health authority's decision to cut funding for three chaplaincy posts has come under fire from the area's Anglican bishop.

The Bishop of Worcester, the Rt Rev Peter Selby, suggested the decision by the Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust had "actively subverted" health department guidelines, issued in November 2003, on patient access to spiritual care.

He said the trust had been "condemned for this decision by virtually every democratic body in the area". And he cited "mounting evidence" that the decision had been motivated not by money but by "a more ideological position in relation to chaplaincy".

The bishop urged the Government in the Lords on Monday to intervene "in defence of the holistic concepts which lie at the heart of the health service".

Labour's Lord Faulkner of Worcester said the decision was opposed by many local community groups and by the union Amicus.

Health minister Lord Warner replied: "NHS trusts are responsible for delivering that (spiritual) care in a way that meets the diverse needs of their patients. How they do so is a matter for local decision, particularly as these arrangements vary considerably now. It is not for ministers to intervene in these local matters."

Lord Warner said the trust needed to save #8 million this year and #16 million next year, shedding 675 posts, only three of which related to chaplaincy.

"They have good reasons for their decision, from what I have seen and the evidence that has been put to me," he said. The loss of the three chaplaincy posts would be the equivalent of about four nurses.

He added: "I have seen no evidence that there is some conspiracy to do down the chaplaincy across the NHS."

Lord Warner noted that numbers of Anglican clergy had fallen from over 11,000 in 1990 to about 8,700 last year.